Jaguars take punter Bryan Anger in third round

Anger is first punter drafted by Jaguars since 2007

The Jaguars pulled their first shocker of the draft in the third round.

Jacksonville selected California punter Bryan Anger with the 70th pick in the NFL draft. The selection made Anger the highest picked punter since 1995.

"He can be a difference maker," Jaguars coach Mike Mularkey said. "Based on where you are in the draft and what's been taken in certain spots, we felt like this was a good pick for us. ... If that one play is a punt that backs up a team inside the 20, maybe people don't know that and there can be a backlash, but that could be the difference in the game."

The Jaguars last drafted a punter in 2007 when they took Adam Podlesh in the fourth round. Podlesh left in free agency before the 2011 season and signed with the Bears. The Jaguars then signed Matt Turk to replace him and he struggled with directional punting.

Currently on the roster the Jaguars have two punters, Nick Harris and Spencer Lanning.

Jaguars general manager Gene Smith said there were other players in the same grade range as Anger, but Anger was the best fit for the Jaguars. Smith compared anger's leg strength to Shane Lechler, a multiple-time All Pro selection who was a fifth-round draft pick in 2000.

"It's not that exciting, but there really is a difference when you come down to the meat and potatoes of the game," Mularkey said.

You guys in the fire Gene Smith crowd must not watch very much football so, I'll help you out on this one. Last year our defense was top 5. We dominated the Ravens on Monday Night Football, not allowing a first down in the first half. That same defense was having to stop oppossing offenses from starting on the 25-35 yard line (or higher in some cases) and still did a decent job and only allowed 1 team to score high numbers against us. The point I think that is being missed is that punting is not offense and apart from categorization and personnel used is not special teams either: Punting is your very first defensive play. Bryan Anger (who was the BAP on the board at the time dispute your clear prejudice against punters) is a specialist, no, a surgeon of pinning down teams behind their 20 yard line. He has amazing accuracy, distance and hang time. With Anger on our roster our defense is going to be up against offenses who are starting from the 20 yard line or less every time the step on the field. That's a ridiculous amount of pressure and there are very few quarterbacks in this league who can drive 80+ yards multiple times a game against a top 5 defense, let alone the number 1 defense (which we will be next year, we're stacked on D). The real problem here is that you people have no faith. You have no faith in Gene or Mike. No faith in Blaine or Maurice. No faith in Poz, Rudiments or Rashean. But I have faith in all of those people. I have faith in Bryan Anger. Congratulations, GM Gene, you've officially built a play-off, no, a Championship contender. I'm prouder than ever to be a Jags fan. # InGeneWeTrust #YesWeKhan

Ok, like everyone else, I initially hated this pick; I thought it was a typo. But now that I am envisioning him on the field I am looking at it differently. I know a lot has been said about him flipping the field and that's huge. Last year Turk flipped the field, but in the wrong way. One thing I like is that he is proficient at directional punting and has great hang time which, keeps the ball out of returners hands. One thing I hope we use is his rugby-style punt. What a great weapon to use. If the other team falls back in coverage, he can roll out, fake the kick and go for a first down. If it's not there he kicks. Either way the return team is thrown off balance. We now have the best kicking game in the NFL, there IS that. Three picks, three starters; we should be so lucky every year.

What a bunch of Mularky!!!! this coach will be one and done at least he should be. With stupid comments like backing teams up behind the 20 which is alot of the time the easiest spot to move the ball from. This guys thinking couldn't be anymore backwards the hardest spot for most offenses to move the ball is inside the Red Zone!

IF you want some interesting insight, that many of you TOTALLY missed yesterday due to You4ia (endorphins),
Go read my post(1st page) where I say the title "....silent DETRACTORS" was misleading. I called out GS's demonstrated blunders, accurately predicting his 3rd round blunder..."he'll get a punter"